The Navy took a major step toward enabling persistent, unmanned operations when the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division led a demonstration off the coast of Virginia using a robotic towed connector to repeatedly capture, refuel and release an unmanned surface vessel.
The remotely operated boat saved the pilots from water off the coast of Oman in a two-hour mission.
The criteria call for a vessel with a range of at least 2,500 nautical miles and a speed of 25 knots. It must be able to operate in rough seas.
Hanwha Group partners with Miami-based Magnet Defense to build an unmanned surface vessel for the U.S. military and Navy autonomy efforts.
Originally published by AND Magazine
More tankers came under attack in Persian Gulf waters on Thursday. A Bahamas-flagged crude oil tanker was targeted by an Iranian remote-controlled boat laden with explosives while anchored near Iraq’s Khor al Zubair port. A second tanker at anchor off Kuwait was taking on water and spilling oil after a large explosion on its port side. This attack may have been carried out by a remote-controlled boat as well. That brings the total as of this writing to nine commercial vessels that have been attacked by the Iranians. The Oman News Agency, the state news agency of the Sultanate of Oman, said on Monday that another oil tanker flagged to the Republic of the Marshall Islands “was attacked by an unmanned surface vessel.” That attack…Open